Cybersecurity salaries in Scotland fell over past year, according to recruiter research

Randstad claims to have discovered decreases in Scotland while England and Ireland salaries rose

Research carried out by recruiter Randstad has found that cybersecurity specialists in Scotland have seen their salaries fall over the last year, while pay across England and Ireland has risen.

Randstad's research found that the "best" cybersecurity specialists in Scotland were earning £72,700 a year but average salaries for the top quartile have now dropped to £70,200 - a fall of almost 3.5 per cent.

But in England, the figure for average salaries of top cybersecurity staff has increased from £70,800 per year to £71,300, a 0.5 per cent increase.

"Edinburgh and Glasgow certainly have an appetite to become world-leading centres for tech but the salary figures don't lie," Adrian Smith, senior director of operations at Randstad said.

"They reflect changes in supply and demand. The high-flying jobs that power that top quartile of high cyber-security salaries are just not there.

"Given how high inflation is currently running, a fall of 3.5 per cent looks even worse in real terms."

The Midlands - particularly in Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Mansfield, Northampton and Nottingham - saw significant increases for the top quartile of cybersecurity staff at over eight per cent, with average salaries up from £60,800 to £66,100 a year.

Overall, average pay for all cybersecurity professionals rose from £54,300 to £60,300 in England and from €41,700 to €41,800 a year in the Republic of Ireland.

But in Scotland, the median average cybersecurity salary fell 1.3 per cent from £60,400 to £59,600.

"Salary rises in England reflect that companies appreciate they can't ignore cybersecurity," Smith added.

"Worryingly, that does not appear to be the case in Scotland. The pay anomaly suggests Scottish employers might be being somewhat complacent, but the threat is real on both sides of the border."